Thoughts and predictions on GTAV (Grand Theft Auto 5)

So, with September 17th coming fast, I thought it would be a good idea to say my opinions and thoughts of GTAV, along with my plans for content and community around it. Rockstar games have almost never let us down, although China Town Wars was a decent game with the old top down style gameplay like the original games, it did not receive the same significant sales that the GTA’s of early to mid last decade received. However, V is back to being a proper RAGE and Euphoria engined beast, 3 times the size map of GTASA, Red Dead Redemption, and GTAIV combined… and that is a very scary thought… All of it is amazingly detailed from what I have seen, and even underwater areas are a maze of corals and shipwrecks, caverns and possibly sharks! The total playable area including many building interiors is apparently five times the size of the previous mentioned maps. Some people said the map was too small… but then they were looking at some of the more rubbished maps the community has put up, trying to convince others that they are real… CVG’s GTA V O’clock team have a well put together map however, of which even Rockstar themselves say is pretty accurate.

Not only is there GTAV itself though, there is also GTA Online, a sort of MMOARPGTPS-thing… All the stuff you can do in singleplayer (heists, shootouts, racing, taunting cops, tennis, swimming, bike racing, BMX’ing, motorcross etc…) is in multiplayer, plus more! Your crews carry on from Max Payne 3, and from the looks of it, so do a lot of the shooting mechanics. They have said that people of certain levels in Max Payne 3 will receive bonuses in GTA Online.

Onto the singleplayer of GTAV… It sounds amazing! Customisation of cars down to performance and even decals, gun customisation and a weapon selection that will be familiar to players of Red Dead Redemption, through to familiar locations (Grove Street anyone?) and hiking in the mountains where you will find all sorts of wild animal life. This is shaping up to be the game of the generation, perhaps even of this decade… but then there is always the next GTA game to shatter that one. The differences between GTAIV and V will blow peoples minds. They have taken the Rage engine, added to it, plonked in another engine for physics (hopefully we can stand in the back of a pick up and fire a minigun whilst our AI driver franticly tries to drive away) and added in so much content, we will probably still be trying to reach 100 percent completion before the next big Rockstar project smashes the previous one…

I myself (Senior editor) already has this game completely paid in the pre-order, and cannot wait for the game to launch. Stay tuned for more information regarding this game. Go watch GTAV O’clock and the trailers, oh and don’t forget to tune in on the 17th for a live Steve Play’s! episode where for several hours I will play this game and commentate on it… probably in high pitched fan excitement voice.